Urgent: Taking control of parents finances

ChikiChiki

We have an urgent situation where our other appears to be drinking herself to death. 2 of us are based abroad in Australia and one at home. My father passed away some years ago upon which my mother received a significant sum of money. My brother at home rang last night to say that her drinking at this time is worse than ever and that she has stopped eating and appears to be drinking herself to death in the run up to Christmas.

Her alcoholism is not a new issue and we and the wider family have tried over the years and to no avail to get mam to admit she is an alcoholic. Most of the family have washed to hands of her as my mother can be very nasty and insulting.

Following discussions with my siblings we would like control of the finances ASAP for two reasons;

1) We believe strongly that our mother is mentally unable to make the best decisions leading her to spending huge amounts on alcohol - It is a mental health issue underlying the alcohol depedency we strongly believe.
2) Provide her with the best care and chance of recovery. Perhaps admission to rehab. We do not have the means ourselves to do this.

What steps do we need to take from a legal standpoint to gain control of my mothers finances?

Also, I am also strongly considering involuntry admission under the Mental Health Act. Can anyone advise if this is an option?

Thanks in advance.

Peregrinus

I'm sorry you are facing this. It's a very painful situation to see someone you love so unhappy, and in such danger.

What you want is to have your mother made a ward of court. This would enable you both to look after her welfare and to protect her property.

But the threshold for having someone made a ward of court is a high one. It is not enough that she is making decisions that you disagree with, or even that she is making decisions that most people would disagree with. What you need is medical evidence showing that she is mentally incapacitated and, as a result of that, is unable to manage her own affairs. Usually you will need medical evidence from two doctors who both think that this test is met, and are willing to testify to that effect.

If you apply to have your mother made a ward of court, she gets notice of that and has the opportunity to oppose it, instructing her own lawyer, presenting her own medical evidence, etc.

If the application is successful, the court will appoint someone, usually a relative of your mother’s, to whom her welfare and affairs are committed. Confusingly, this person is known as the “committee”, even though it's normally just one person. The committee can make welfare and property decisions on behalf of your mother, but has to do so within guidelines laid down by the court, and has to report regularly to the court about the decisions they are making and the actions they are taking. It’s all pretty cumbersome.

Wardship is not a prison sentence. While the committee can, e.g., consent to medical treatment on behalf of the ward, they don’t have the right, e.g., to have the ward detained in hospital against their will. The wardship regime is mainly designed for the support of people who have a mental infirmity that prevents them from understanding the welfare issues facing them, or expressing any view about them. It’s not well-adapted to dealing with people who do understand the welfare issues, and have strong views about them which are at odds with the views of their family.

A more extreme step than having your mother declared a ward of court is having her involuntarily admitted to a mental hospital. Note that this step, on its own, doesn’t give you any rights at all to control or deal with her property or income - for that, you would still need wardship proceedings - but it does effect a high degree of control over her behaviour and actions, which may be what concerns you if you think she is harming herself. In order to be involuntarily committed, your mother would have to be diagnosed as suffering from a mental disorder. But note that drug or alcohol addition, or socially deviant behaviour, are not enough to constituted “mental disorder” for this purpose; your mother can’t be detained simply because she is an alcoholic who is making inappropriate decisions. She’ll need to be diagnosed with a mental illness, severe dementia or significant intellectual disability such that there’s a serious likelihood of her doing immediate and serious harm to herself or others, or such that she is going to get sicker and sicker unless admitted and treated. It’s a pretty high bar.

You’ll note that both processes start with medical tests. Is your mother “mentally incapacitated”? Is she “suffering from a mental disorder”? So no matter which route you want to take, the necessary first step is to have your mother medically examined. If your mother is not currently receiving medical attention, and is uncooperative with any attempts you may make to have her examined and assessed, this could be a problem.

Note that there are various other legal mechanisms available for the care of people whose abilities are compromised or impaired, but they depend on the co-operation/assent of the person concerned, and I don’t get the impression that they are going to be of much relevance to your mother’s situation, so I haven’t discussed them.

ChikiChiki

@Peregrinus

Thank you very much for your detailed response. I have forwarded your post onto my siblings and discussed. It brings some clarity to us in what is a very difficult situation for all of us.

As my mother will under no circumstance agree to medical treatment or voluntarily committing herself for psychological evaluation I think we are going to proceed with involuntarily committment followed up by a ward of court.

The situation is dire and she has stopped eating and has been saying that she wants to die. I have began consultation with friends who are in the guards about the process.

notsoyoungwan

Alcoholism is one of a number of conditions specifically excluded from involuntary admission under the mental health act, you cannot detain someone against their will for this. You might find a guard who will make an application under the act, and a GP to do the recommendation but it’s extremeky unlikely the psych unit will be able to detain her for longer than 24 hrs.

It’s a difficult situation for families and medics alike.